A Day out with Thomas!

We surprised the kids with a trip to see Thomas the Tank engine. They had no idea until we pulled up to the station! It was neat because as we were parking Thomas was coming back from a ride and the kids got to see him off in the distance as he approached the station. It took Tyler a little while to see him coming but Alana saw him. She was more excited then Tyler was. He had is "Disney Face" on as we like to joke. He was so serious about everything and was just checking everything out. He was excited but you just couldn't tell by looking at him.

Lego Thomas.

Tyler checking out the wheels.

Island of Sodor made entirely of legos!

Train ride

Here comes Thomas!!!

Tyler was still in shock we think when we rode on Thomas. He was just taking it all in. He really was having a great time, though I could never capture a smile on him :) The train ride was about 20 minutes long and it went past Amish farms so the kids got a kick out of seeing all the farmers working and some of the animals out in the fields. They played Thomas music in the train and the "Mr Conductor" as Tyler called him came around and collected the tickets.

It was such a fun day and we are very glad that we took the kids to see it. We also discovered several more things to do up that way, so we will be planning another trip soon!

Graduation

It was a big day for Alana. She graduated pre-k and is going to start Kindergarten in the fall! She was very excited about her "congraduations" ceremony as she called it! They did little skits and sang some songs. This was the first year her school did anything like this and the kids had fun. Grandma and Grandpa were out for it and we took the kids to Red Robin afterwards to celebrate Alana.

She is so proud of her diploma!

The three amigos. Alana, Lizzie, and Jodi.

Walking in town

The other day we decided to treat the kids to some ice cream. We walked around downtown and over Tyler's favorite bridge and hung out. It was a great afternoon for it and we all had fun.

By the little 'river' that runs through town

Yes Tyler is eating Cheerios at the ice cream shop. He is very picky about his ice cream and will only eat mint chocolate chip ice cream. And it has to be the green mint chocolate chip not the white! But he was perfectly happy with his cheerios.

Alana on the other hand is like her daddy and will eat almost any kind of ice cream available. Throw it in a cone and she is a happy girl.

I guess all that walking (and the huge chocolate shake) made the boys sleepy!

Day at the Lake

We decided since it was such a nice day to take the kids to one of our local lakes here. What we didn't know was that a storm was really close to us. It was only a 30% chance when we left the house so we thought we were in the clear. Once we got to the lake we noticed across from us it was getting dark. It gradually got darker and we heard thunder far off in the distance. We took a few pictures and then went for a very short walk.

Notice the sky is darker in this picture!

After we took this picture we walked about a foot into the woods when lightening struck right by us and scared us all half to death! Dave grabbed Alana, who was terrified, and I grabbed Tyler, who thought the noise was actually pretty cool, go figure! You could hear the crackling of the lighting and the thunder was so loud that our ears were ringing. Very scary!

We took Alana back to the lake to show her that won't happen every time we go there. She kept asking if she was brave. And we told her yes that she was brave. And even when you are being brave it is okay to be a little bit scared.

A few more shots from the day

Peek a boo
Billy sneaking in on the shot!

Tyler looking serious

Alana being Alana

Tyler saying cheese while Alana strikes a pose.

The Tower

They put up the Tower ladder for the kids to see. As you can tell Tyler LOVED it. We had to stop him from running up the ladder he was all about it! The child has no fear!

Climbing on up!

Alana's turn

Now how many 3 and 5 yr olds get to stand on the ladder like that :) they thought they were just too cool. They were waving at all the guys that were standing around. I think they got a kick out of seeing the kids getting so excited about everything.

Of course I had to take a shot of the kids with Daddy up there, even though he doesn't ride that.